Ukraine votes against LGBTI rights

The Ukraine Parliament has voted against a LGBTI rights law, ruining it’s chances of joining the Schengen Zone.

Following the ousting of pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych and the student revolution that led to his demise, as demanded by the revolution, Ukraine applied to join the European Schengen zone.

A nation in turmoil, Ukraine is fiercely divided between those that want to be a part of the European Union and those that want to have closer links to Russia.

The Schengen Zone is made up of 26 countries in Europe and allows visa free travel for citizens across the zone without needing a passport.

As a condition of joining, the Ukraine must pass a law to ban discrimination against LGBTI people in the workplace, as outlined by the European Union. However only 26 per cent of lawmakers in the Ukraine Parliament voted for a law change that would strengthen LGBTI rights.

Lawmaker, Pavlo Unguryan, echoed the sentiment that is assumed shared by many in the parliament, saying: ”As a country with a thousand-year-old Christian history, we simply cannot allow this.”

“Today, a special status for sexual minorities is simply unacceptable.”